Labor is seeking to quickly pass its budget night tax cuts through the parliament this week, in an apparent bid to wedge the Coalition, which has said it does not support the changes and voted against the bill on Wednesday.
If the tax changes pass parliament before the election is called, it would likely require the Coalition to pledge to repeal the $5 a week cuts if it came to office – after Peter Dutton and Angus Taylor said on Tuesday they would not support the cuts.
“I’m looking forward to the leader of the opposition explaining to people why he doesn’t support tax cuts for Australians,” Anthony Albanese told parliament on Wednesday.
Labor changed the parliamentary schedule on Wednesday morning, in a surprise move to bring on debate on the tax cuts immediately.
The treasurer, Jim Chalmers, told the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning: “To vote against this legislation would be to stand in the way of more hard-earned money staying in the pockets of every hard-working Australian.”
“This is what those opposite are proposing with the shadow treasurer’s brain snap last night when he said that he would oppose more tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer.”
Taylor again ridiculed the size of the tax cuts, which will be just over $5 a week for average taxpayers in 2026, and $10 a week ongoing from 2027.
The Coalition has previously said taxes would always be lower under a Dutton government, and Taylor on Tuesday night didn’t rule out announcing a different suite of tax changes, but has remained tight-lipped on what may be included in the opposition’s budget reply on Thursday night.
The Coalition voted against the bill in earlier procedural stages of the parliamentary debate, but did not oppose the final substantive vote, which passed “on the voices” without a formal division or vote counting.
The Senate will sit past 10pm on Wednesday night, with several key bills to be voted on late into the night, including the tax cuts legislation. That slate of bills includes the changes to environmental law relating to salmon farming in Tasmania.
“We saw interest rates that have been higher for longer in this country … the average Australian family with a mortgage, $50,000 they had to find that they weren’t expecting to find,” Taylor told parliament.
“[Chalmers’] answer is 70 cents. You’ve got to be joking. You absolutely have. He has no concept for the pain that they are experiencing.”
While the vote will sail through the lower house due to Labor’s parliamentary majority, its passage is not guaranteed in the Senate at this stage.
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The Greens will support the tax cuts in both houses, and Jacqui Lambie will back the change in the Senate, but sources have told Guardian Australia crucial upper house crossbenchers David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe are still considering their position.
At this stage the government needs at least one more vote to get the tax cuts passed through the Senate.
Albanese noted the opposition had initially opposed Labor’s changes to the stage-three tax cuts, before eventually supporting them in parliament. In a moment seemingly created for social media, Albanese criticised the opposition as being “delulu with no solulu”, slang terms for delusional and solution.
“[The Coalition] will have to cut help to education, to services, to housing, to public servants, or cuts to everything. The only cut this bloke doesn’t want is a cut to people’s taxes,” Albanese said.
Dutton in return called Albanese’s speech “an incoherent rant”, claiming the prime minister was “out of luck and out of time” on the eve of an election, expected to be called as early as Friday.
Dutton earlier called the tax cuts “a cruel hoax” and “an election bribe.”
“I just think is a slap in the face for Australian families and I think it doesn’t reflect the pressure that Labor has put families under,” he told ABC radio.
Dutton would not give any details about his budget reply speech, including on whether the Coalition would offer its own ideas for tax cuts, but said his Thursday address would focus on areas including cost of living support, energy, home ownership, migration, essential services including health and education, and community safety.
